Dog food….the HORROR - Page 4

There are very few brands out there that have not been "frequent fliers" on recall lists. In fact, the higher quality brands seem to be more likely to issue a fast voluntary recall rather than have their hand forced by voluminous consumer complaints or regulatory pressure. Keep in mind though that more and more of the former high quality brands are being taken over by big name companies....

https://www.avma.org/news/issues/recalls-alerts/pages/pet-food-safety-recalls-alerts.aspx?fvalue=Dog
http://www.fda.gov/animalVeterinary/safetyhealth/recallswithdrawals/default.htm
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recalls/

Lamb and aflatoxin from corn and wheat are very often the offending ingredients in recalls.  Most of the lamb meal comes from New Zealand and Australia and are commodities.  Aflatoxin is found primarily in corn and tight headed small grains such as wheat. Glutens have also been the subject of recalls due to tainted and chemically spiked gluten from China.  Stay away from lamb meal as an ingredient, no corn, no wheat and no gluten and that pretty takes care of most reasons for recalls.  Rice is preferred as a grain as it does not have aflatoxin problems (loose head).  Barley and oats can have aflatoxin but they have a looser head than wheat and the incidence is very low or nonexistent.  The concentration of toxins in cooked and concentrated meat meals is a reality and even so called fresh meats are cooked and dehydrated with pressure and high temperature so none of the meat ingredients in dry kibble can be said to be exactly human grade in most cases.  Human grade meat from the human food chain is safest as the threat of class action lawsuits and recalls keep the big meat processors and sellers somewhat honest.  Any time there is money to be made in using a lower quality product with little penalty for breaking the law or rules you can bet it will happen or is happening.  The liability the companies face for selling cheapened or adulterated dog foods is limited by laws only giving damages equal to the value of the animals harmed or killed.  The salmonella in dog food recalls were not about the dogs but about the potential liability of humans who got sick or died (children) from handling or exposure to the lamb meal containing dog foods involved.  I got sick once from handling lamb meal containing dry dog food but the dogs ate it and were fine.  The dog food companies don't care much if they kill your dog but a few children dead and traced back to their product terrifies them as the liability is potentially limitless.  

Hi everybody I am Katie, thanks for bringing me in. This was very helpful for me. I don't know what to feed. I think about Baron's digestive system and every now and again I give him some yogurt.

Addendum about grains .. sorghum and millet also can be host to aflatoxin plus they are not very high quality or easily digestible sources of protein or carbohydrates.  Rice or sweet potatoes, or other starchy vegetables are superior to corn and most small grains as a protein or carbohydrate source.  Corn gluten is another corn industry lie .. corn contains no gluten but corn gluten is a cheap and inferior protein source renamed to make it sound better.  Then there is the GMO thing which will eventually bite us all in the ass so best to avoid the high level of GMO traits in corn products.